Photos Of Cool CIA Spy Gadgets

21072014

Developed by CIA’s Office of Research and Development in the 1970s, this micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was the first flight of an insect-sized aerial vehicle (Insectothopter). It was an initiative to explore the concept of intelligence collection by miniaturized platforms. (Courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency)

These are some of the cool gadgets on display at the Central Intelligence Agency’s astonishing private museum in Langley, Virginia.

The 800 objects on display highlight the agency’s technological ideas and focus on the organization’s successes.

Please click the photos for larger images.

CIA’s Office of Advanced Technologies and Programs developed the Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) fish to study aquatic robot technology. The UUV fish contains a pressure hull, ballast system, and communications system in the body and a propulsion system in the tail. It is controlled by a wireless line-of-sight radio handset. (Courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency)

A subminiature radio receiver is concealed in this modified pipe. The user hears the sound via ‘bone conduction’ from the jaw to the ear canal. (Courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency)

CAT travelers received flight bags as complementary gifts. Once a Chinese Nationalists Airline, was owned by the CIA for covert operations. (Courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency)

This desiccated and hollowed-out rat corpse is designed to use as a “dead drop” — a mailbox to pass messages between a CIA officer and a local agent without the two of them risking a face-to-face meeting. Dead drop items are typically either things no one would look at twice or so disgusting that people won’t go near them. (Andrew Rothschild for Yahoo News)

Miniature spring-wound 35-mm film camera in a modified cigarette pack. The Tessina’s small size and quiet operation provided more options for concealment than most commercially available models. (Courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency)

What looked like a concrete ball was actually a ‘gap-jumping antenna’ removed from one of the preformed concrete columns in the embassy office building. US investigators called it âgap-jumpingâ because it coupled magnetically with a matching antenna in the adjacent column. This allowed data to be transmitted without a physical electrical connection. (Courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency)

This coin may appear to be an Eisenhower silver dollar, but it is really a concealment device. It was used to hide messages or film so they could be sent secretly. Because it looks like ordinary pocket change, it is almost undetectable. (Courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency)
This coin may appear to be an Eisenhower silver dollar, but it is really a concealment device. It was used to hide messages or film so they could be sent secretly. Because it looks like ordinary pocket change, it is almost undetectable. (Courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency)

Special devices were used in World War II to take letters from their envelopes without opening the seals. The pincer-like device was inserted into the unsealed gap at the top of an envelope flap. One could then wind the letter around the pincers and extract the letter from within. (Courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency)

CIA’s Office of Research and Development developed a camera small and light enough to be carried by a pigeon. It would be released, and on its return home the bird would fly over a target. Being a common species, its role as an intelligence collection platform was concealed in the activities of thousands of other birds. Pigeon imagery was taken within hundreds of feet of the target so it was much more detailed than other collection platforms. (Courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency)